Tastemaker Awards

Grab a table at the 10 best neighborhood restaurants in Dallas

Neighborhood restaurants best reflect the neighborhood where they live.

We're counting the days until the 2017 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, our annual event honoring the best in local food and drink. Check out our list of nominees in all categories of food and beverage, from best bartenders to the best restaurant in Dallas-Fort Worth.

We'll honor them all at a celebratory party on April 20 from 7-10 pm at Sixty Five Hundred, with tastings and awards, emceed by Texas celebrity chef Tim Love. Tickets are on sale now, for $45, through March 31.

We've already visited with the candidates for Rising Star Chef of the Year. Now we're back with Best Neighborhood Restaurant. These are the places that best reflect the neighborhood where they live. They're the places that become your reliable go-to. These are the places that feel like home.

Here are our nominees for Best Neighborhood Restaurant:

20 Feet Seafood Joint
Joint is the right word for this casual counter-serve restaurant from former Green Room chefs Marc Cassel and Suzan Fries. The theme is seafood, skewing slightly towards New England, with that Maine special, lobster rolls, clam chowder, and fried clams. Ramen, too, plus Fries' cream pies. The atmosphere is, how do you say, no frills, with only about 50 seats inside and 25 on the front porch. During rush hour, it's always a jam, and that's to be expected. The neighborhood is thrilled to have to good-quality seafood, and the wallet-friendly BYOB policy is just icing on the cake.

Bbbop Seoul Kitchen
Family-owned Asian-fusion restaurant chain has three branches, and true to this category, each has its own charm, from the bustling practicality of Upper Greenville to the foodie cachet of North Oak Cliff. They all share the same basic cuisine theme, with a focus on Korean dishes including bibimbap, the traditional rice bowl dish topped with veggies, egg, and meat if you want, that inspired their name. But each location has menu twists that reflect where they are, and of a caliber that reflects the authenticity and culinary skills of owners Steve Shin, Sandy Bussey, and Greg Bussey.

Chicken Scratch
Laid-back spot in West Dallas from the restaurant team of Tim Byres, Chris Jeffers, and Chris Zielke aims to capture the spirit of a family picnic. The menu centers on chicken, including rotisserie, fried chicken, fried-chicken biscuit sandwiches, plus sides such as mashed potatoes, French fries, mac and cheese, and collard greens. You order from a walk-up window and revel in the patio the restaurant shares with its bar partner, The Foundry. You can bring the kids, sit outdoors, and there's live music every Friday and Saturday night.

Lounge Here
Casual-chic bar-restaurant has rock star heritage in owners Julie Doyle, singer and manager of Polyphonic Spree, and Tony Barsotti, artist, musician, and furniture designer. The subtly Southern menu consists mostly of food you can eat while you drink some of their spectacular cocktails, with plenty of snacky options such as hummus and deviled eggs. The design, somewhere between Palm Springs and a '60s airport lobby, is stunning, and the entire package serves as a benchmark of the gentrifying transition being felt by this area east of White Rock Lake.

Maple & Motor
Quirky, slightly cranky burger spot has a simple menu, with burgers, hot dogs, and onion rings that services workers in the Medical District, plus pilgrims from downtown, Oak Lawn, and beyond. Its hand-formed burger, topped with mustard, red onion, lettuce, and pickle and served on a toasted bun, has earned plenty of recognition, including the biggest gravy train of all, a profile on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. But the true neighborhood that M&M occupies is more philosophical than geographical. You come here to have the same food and be the same as other diners, no matter who you are.

Meso Maya
Ambitious spin-off of El Fenix aims for authentic Mexican food from the Central and Southern states, featuring such dishes as mole, posole, and budin Azteca, a layered dish with tortillas and chicken. But its three branches are all located in upscale areas of Dallas, so that means Tex-Mex touches, a well-appointed atmosphere, and $12 cocktails with muddled fruit. There are 8 different margaritas, including one with avocado and pineapple, and another with cucumber. Gotta give the people what they want.

Neighborhood Services
Lovers Lane restaurant that spawned a hip local chain from hip chef Nick Badovinus has become a Dallas staple, with its ultra-happening atmosphere and broad something-for-everyone menu, balancing inventiveness with a prevailing sense of comfort. Dishes are all-American with a gourmet flair: chicken pot pie, scallops with cheddar polenta, fish and chips, generous salads, and nifty appetizers like the signature fried asparagus. Dallas diners like a little intrigue, but they don't want anything, you know, weird.

Royal China
From a food perspective, you go to this long-running Chinese restaurant for its two signature dishes: hand-pulled noodles and house-made dumplings. But its longevity also makes it a Dallas treasure, and one whose menu has evolved to address the growing savvy of its North Dallas clientele, with the addition of more regional dishes and a dumpling bar where staffers make them in the open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.

Sissy's Southern Kitchen & Bar
Fried chicken looms as the big trend of 2017, making Lisa Garza-Selcer way ahead of the chicken curve when she opened Sissy's in 2012. Along with crunchy fried chicken, Sissy's retro-Southern menu includes classics such as deviled eggs, gumbo, and fried green tomatoes. There's shrimp and grits, a local favorite, and sides such as collards and fried okra. The ambience is hyper-designed, with servers wearing aprons and food served on blue-and-white Spode plates. Sissy's happens to be on Henderson Avenue but it fills a need Dallas always has for a fine Southern eatery.

The Grape
Lower Greenville institution with European-influenced menu is the ultimate neighborhood restaurant, prevailing for more than 35 years, a reputation that owners Brian and Courtney Luscher have adeptly maintained. That means keeping traditions like the mushroom soup but also rejuvenating via additions such as a burger at Sunday brunch, one that Texas Monthlynamed the best in Texas. Good service, a friendly wine list, a weekday happy hour, and nightly specials make The Grape the kind of place you keep coming back to.

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Eco Warrior News

Dallas restaurants doing amazing little things for the environment

Southwest Airlines

Cute bamboo cup from Southwest Airlines

One unfortunate legacy left by the pandemic has been a huge increase in the use of plastics — setting back progress that was being made pre-pandemic.

Plastics are bad. They harm everything they touch: the environment, health, food security, and economies. But they're convenient, subsidized, and in some cases necessary.

Before the pandemic, a growing awareness had started to snowball regarding the negative impact of plastics, particularly plastic straws and single-use plastic containers — and it was significant enough to make the plastics industry very nervous.

"In the two years leading up to the pandemic, the public backlash against plastic was a major concern for industry leaders," says a story about plastics and the pandemic in The Guardian. "As a corporate executive remarked during an industry event early in 2019: 'We need to get the image of plastic in oceans out of the public’s mind. Otherwise, we could lose our social license to operate.'"

But then the pandemic came along, igniting mass hysteria about contagion, and suddenly, bans on single-use plastics that had been in the works were reversed in countries around the world: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Overnight, plastics went from public enemy No. 1 to consumers asking for everything to have as much packaging as possible and to be single use," said one gleeful analyst for Shell Oil, who are a major plastics player.

The urgency of the plastics situation remains invisible to most people, lined up at the drive-thru for their coffee or Chick-Fil-A, piling up nearly 250 pounds of plastic waste every year. (That's what the average American amasses — more than any other country.)

But there are brave, pro-environment efforts being made by Dallas companies and organizations, big and small.

La Casita Bakeshop cup Revolutionary compostable cup at La Casita Bakeshop.Facebook

Dallas efforts
The Dallas restaurants and organizations listed below have taken steps to fight waste, even though it costs them money.

Plastic Free Lunch Day is November 22
Dallas ISD’s Food and Child Nutrition Services will participate in Plastic Free Lunch Day on November 22, to help reduce the amount of single-use plastic in school cafeterias.

Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by middle school students in Brooklyn. The initiative was such a success that it was adopted by all New York City public schools in 2022. The concept has since spread to public schools across the country — including Dallas ISD, which was the first in Texas to participate, when it joined up in 2022.

It creates an opportunity to educate students and the community on ways to positively impact the environment, including skipping plastic. Dallas school cafeterias will replace the plastic items they regularly use during lunch with biodegradable alternatives. (Plastic cutlery, cups, and straws will be available upon request for the crybabies.)

Southwest Airlines bamboo cup
Southwest Airlines Co., the Dallas-based airline, has introduced a new bamboo cup for inflight cold beverages, and a wood stir stick in place of a plastic stick. The airline expects the new items to reduce its inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

In July 2024, Southwest transitioned to a paper overwrap for its napkins made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials — fully eliminating plastic from this service item. The airline is making an effort to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030.

La Casita Bakeshop compostable cups
La Casita Bakeshop, the award-winning bakery and cafe operation, recently debuted fabulous new cups that are 100 percent compostable, soil- and marine-biodegradable, breaking down naturally after 90 days. and are made from natural materials.

"We are always trying to find ways to be more environmentally friendly and this is a big way we can," they said in their post announcing the new cups. "We just want to be proud of our paper trail and being a restaurant it's hard to do that."

Smoothie King biodegrable cups
Smoothie King, the Dallas-based smoothie chain, previously used styrofoam cups, but began testing a biodegradable cup in 2019. They now offer it as the default choice. They're using Vio Foam, specially made cups that biodegrade 92 percent in four years. They'll still accommodate whiny selfish customers who insist on getting a plastic cup instead, but their Vio foam cup not only helps the environment, it also keeps their smoothies cold a little longer.

Kate Weiser Recycle Box Program
Kate Weiser, the Dallas chocolatier, sells its gorgeous eye-catching bon-bons in a variety of boxes, from 4 pieces all the way up to 35 pieces. (OK, they'll sell them individually, too, but who goes to a chocolate shop and buys a single chocolate?) They have a program where you can bring your empty box to the store and get a refill and get 5 percent off. (Weiser amusingly calls it a "secret hack.")

Dude Sweet Chocolate freezer packaging
Dude Sweet Chocolate, the Oak Cliff chocolatier, has a next-level campaign in which they will accept cold-ship packaging you've received in the mail and re-use it. Say, for example, that you ordered an 8-pack of ice cream pints from Double Rainbow in San Francisco, and it arrived in a box with freezer packs and a foil liner. You can drop that packaging off at Dude Sweet's factory location at 1340 Inwood Rd., and they'll re-use it in one way or another when they're doing shipments of their chocolate.

Note: Whether you're putting it in the blue bin or the gray bin, your plastic is not being recycled. The best course when it comes to plastic, especially single-use plastic, is to not use it at all.

sustainability